Been thinking a lot lately :)

Ohmygosh looong and rainy afternoon today. I tried to wake up at 9 am but I was sooo sleepy and it was a cold morning so who could resist a few more minutes of sleep right? At 10:30 I finally forced myself to get out of the bed. I was still sooo sleepy my eyes were still shut while preparing hot water for my coffee. I know you know the feeling because I'm pretty sure you've been through this. :))

It started raining while I was preparing to go to Comelec. I really really wanna go and register because my conscience will haunt me in the next 6 years if I don't do my responsibility as a citizen. OMG, I had to ride a jeep from our village to get to Quezon City Hall because there are no buses or fx that cover that route. (I've mentioned a few times on this blog that I don't ride jeeps except when I'm in the UP campus because it's sooo hard to breathe in jeepneys.) In fairness to the rain, it lessened the amount of dust particles I inhaled during the ride. haha

Meters away from the Comelec building, I can already see the line! OMG I wanted to faint. hahaha Because last week when I went there (the day we were sent home haha), there was barely any line. I was even able to sit on their bench. So there I was, getting wet because of the rain and sweat, asking random people what each line was for. I was able to submit my forms pretty fast but I had to wait along with so many people to be called back for our assigned schedules. It began to rain again so some of us had to seek shelter under the narrow part of the building which had a roof. Beside me was a mother and her 3 month old baby. There were old people, students, regular employees who probably took the day off to register. 

Those minutes of waiting really made me see how much the Filipinos want change. People stand there in looong lines just so they can make sure they do their part in changing the country. But I believe there's more than enduring long lines now and placing our thumb marks on the 10th of May. We have to help ourselves too. Like the trash that clog the water system of NCR. We can't just expect garbage contractors, the local government and the environmental advocates to clean that up. We need to stop littering in the first place. I hope people who live near the esteros realize how much they can do to change even just the trash problem here in Manila. Or the people who don't pay proper taxes. They can't just use up and earn from our resources and not give back to this country. 

Sometimes I think that those people who don't genuinely care for our country should just leave. I know it's a harsh comment but why should our country take care of someone who doesn't care for her?

And this population dilemma? IT HAS TO STOP. I thought there are only 88 million Filipinos. But no. We've reached the line of 9. Read this article. Stop making babies if you can't feed and send them to school! One class in UP (I think it's Econ) explains overpopulation this way. It seems like poorer families have more children compared to those who live a comfortable life. And why is this? Because they think of their children as assets who will make lives better for them in the future. So more children=more assets=more improvement in their lives. NOT! Because before their children become assets, they start as liabilities that parents need to spend on and take care of until they are ready to make money and improve their family's life. But that's sooo not gonna happen because if they can't eat three times a day, how can they possibly send their children to school, how will the children learn and will they ever gonna get a decent job to improve their standards of living? Only outliers can contradict this trend.

Also, according to the documentaries I've seen, families in far flung areas or provinces have many children because they have no other past time. They don't have televisions, no books to read, no internet, no radio and some don't even have electricity. Nothing really keeps them preoccupied. So when nighttime comes, all they do is some cuddling and you-know-what's-next. Then, surprise! A baby bump! 

These little problems we have, when combined, create a huuuuge problem. If each person throws a candy wrapper, then 92 million wrappers can accumulate and kill fish, or clog our rivers. If we control the population, if we pay our taxes right, if we don't cut trees, if we follow traffic rules, if we care a little more, and if we do things right, I'm pretty sure we'll be in a better place in no time.